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La Maison Neuve
La Garnache, Vendee
France
0033 (0)2 51494752
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Vendee Information
The Vendee
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| Sights
and "things to do" |
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| BEACHES:
There are many beaches you may
wish to visit. St. Jean de Mont is one of the
most popular and we have added a few of the local
attractions below. Or you could take a short drive
up the coast to the magical isle of Noirmoutier
where you can hire a bike and cycle right round
the island. This island is accessed via a modern
bridge or by a 4km causeway at low tide. The bustling
commercial resort of Les Sables D'Olonne is approximately
one hour south of Challans. |
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Local Attractions
at St. Jean de Mont
- Aquarium
- Largest in Europe, from sea life to tropical
to freshwater fish.
- Cinema - St Jean de Monts
- Puy de Fou
- Family adventure park.
- Night show on Fridays and Saturdays in high
season, Saturday only in low season.
- Zoo - Les Sables D'Olonne
- Planete Sauvage
- Safari Park. Massive collection of animals.
Largely African - lions, zebras, hippos etc...
- Futuroscope
Theme park for media and technology.
- Most things are in French.
- Oceanile
- Water park with various slides, pools and
wave machine. Also man-made beach.
- The Tourist Office at Pornic offers guided
tours on bikes, boat trips around bay of Pornic
and visits to the Ile de Noirmoutier, train
rides on a mini-train around the local area.
Visit the standing stones at Predaire and Joseliere.
Visit the local oceanarium at Croisic, zoos,
cinemas
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| CASTLES:
There are a few castles to be
seen in the Vendee. If you like history and a
day out then why not spend a few hours looking
around these ancient monuments.
Talmont Castle: Located on a
rock and at the origin surrounded by water, the
feudal fortress of Talmont was high in XIe century
by Guillaume the Bald person to defend the coasts
of Poitou against the invasions Normans. Increased
at XVe century and dismantled on order of Richelieu,
the castle preserved part of its triple enclosure
and its keep with a Romance frontage and an interior
vault. It accepted the visit of Richard Coeur
de Lion and several kings de France of which Louis
VII, Louis XI or Henri IV Nowadays, you can attend
medieval demonstrations during the festival period. |
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| Tiffauges Castle.
Located in an exceptional site, with the confluence
of Sèvre Nantes and one of its affluent's,
Crûme, the castle, with its ovoid enclosure,
of a development of approximately 700 meters and
of an interior surface of almost 3 hectares, the
typical example of the medieval fortress constitutes.
Gilles de Rais, comrade in arms of Jeanne d' Arc,
is one of the outstanding figures of the end of
the Middle Ages. Large captain of war, it is in
Tiffauges that it is withdrawn after the countryside
of France against the English. He will be there
patron, alchemist... and assassin. Carried out in
Nantes at the 36 years age, it became Bore-Blue
legend. |
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| GOLFING.
The wonderful
St. Jean de Mont golf course offers a dry course,
with its sandy subsoil. Encompassing the lovely
scenery, the course stretches inland from the
coast, simulating a links environment, but with
its own water features and gently undulating terrain.
Open all year round this course won a Patek Philippe
Oscar and was designed by Yves Burreau, first
opened in 1988. With a club house and restaurant-brasserie,
a walk along the coast and great French cuisine
makes for another wonderful day out.
Avenue des Pays de la Loire.
Tel: 02 51588273 |
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CYCLING
With its fast-growing network of canal side towpaths,
coastal cycle ways and trails along disused railway
lines, the Vendee provides hundreds of kilometers
of happy cycling. The area also has the additional
advantage of generally flat terrain. La Maison Neuve
is right on a circular route of several miles. Leave
in the morning and see virtually nobody all day,
not quite like cycling in the UK! Cycling in France
may be really enjoyable, but you need to remember
a few basic survival rules.
- Ride on the right!
- While French car drivers do accept that cyclists
have as much right to the road as they do, tourist
drivers often do not share this view, so you
must exercise care at all times.
- Travel in single file. This is especially
important when cycling with children, who should
be flanked fore and aft by parents.
- If you stop for a rest - which you should
do frequently - get off the road and on to the
grass verge.
- Basic survival means a repair kit - better
still, tyre-levers and a spare tube.
- Water in bottles (one litre per person per
hour) is absolutely essential. Vendean summer
heat can be daunting.
- Drink sparingly but frequently.
- Headgear is a must, though helmets are still
being debated. Soft hats keep fierce sunrays
at bay.
- Cycling in summer heat, especially between
noon and 4pm, can be sheer lunacy, and is a
form of torture for children.
- Maps are not essential but a planned route
is. Wandering at will is an invitation to get
lost or waste many miles - sorry, kilometres.
- Though not essential, a very useful piece
of kit is a mirror fitted to your offside (in
France, the left) handlebar, which shows any
fast-approaching car or lorry coming up behind.
- Avoid coastal roads and main trunk routes.
They are very busy and, frankly, scary.
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France is famous for its cuisine. Bread and....
Wine yes! But also castles!
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